In November 2013, Big Finish will be releasing Doctor Who: The Light at the End, a very special 100-minute story to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who. Tom Baker (1974-81), Peter Davison (1982-84), Colin Baker (1984-86), Sylvester McCoy (1987-89) and Paul McGann (1996) will all reprise their roles as, respectively, the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors, whose paths suddenly intersect when they face imminent destruction.

“We wanted to do a proper, fully-fledged multi-Doctor story for this very special occasion,” says writer, director and executive producer Nicholas Briggs, “and it’s wonderful that all the surviving classic Doctors threw themselves behind the project so enthusiastically. That’s not to say the first three Doctors don’t appear – we wanted to pay homage to the whole history of the classic series.”

The Doctors will also be joined by a number of their regular companions: Louise Jameson reprises the role of the savage Leela, Sarah Sutton plays the scientist Nyssa, Nicola Bryant is American botany student Peri, Sophie Aldred is streetwise kid Ace and India Fisher returns as Edwardian adventurer Charley Pollard.

“And that’s not all,” says producer David Richardson, “because Geoffrey Beevers is back to create mayhem as the Master, and there will be a number of appearances from some much-cherished old friends from the TV series…”

Doctor Who: The Light at the End will be released in two different versions. A five-disc limited special edition comes with two hour-long documentaries, plus The Revenants, a Companion Chronicles tale which began life as a free Doctor Who Magazine download. It’s performed by William Russell, who starred in the very first TV story as Ian Chesterton. The special edition comes in beautiful special packaging, and will include a number of exclusive professionally photographed images of the cast.

The standard edition comprises two discs, featuring the two hour-long episodes of the story.

It's hard to imagine that they wouldn't have Eccelston unless he well and truly burnt any bridges. I'm still hoping they'll at least have McGann as he could still look roughly like he did years ago. I imagine the producers looking at McCoy, Baker, Baker & Davidson and thinking "we can't put them on prime time Telly in our flagship episode" (I disagree, but I could Imagine them thinking it)

Poor Eccleston. He seems to be left out in all of this, even though it was him who spearheaded the 2005 ressurection.

Speculation with regards to Eccleston's participation in the 50th Anniversary special is rife.

The BBC is playing their cards VERY close to their chest for this project and no one knows for sure what is going on. More casting announcements have been promised by the BBC but we don't know who or when (this might not even refer to previous Doctors). All we know for sure is that the special will feature

11th Doctor, Clara 10th Doctor, Rose

Photographs taken of location filming by fans from a distance have only revealed Tennant and Jenna Louise Coleman. So we will have to wait and see.

Given that the last casting announcement was a week ago and they have been filming for a week, I'd guess the casting news will come sooner rather than later (better an official press release than a leaked photo from filming).

Former Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston has turned down the chance to star in the 50th anniversary episode of the long-running sci-fi show.

The actor, who played the ninth incarnation of the Time Lord when the BBC revived the show in 2005, met writer Steven Moffat to discuss the anniversary.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "Chris met with Steven Moffat a couple of times to talk about Steven's plans for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary episode. After careful thought, Chris decided not to be in the episode. He wishes the team all the best."

At least one living former doctor - David Tennant - will return for the one-off show after it was announced he and Billie Piper, who played companion Rose Tyler for two series, will join the current Doctor, played by Matt Smith, in the programme.

But fans might still get the chance to see Eccleston's portrayal of the doctor as show bosses are rumoured to be planning to use old footage of previous doctors for the special show.

Some conflicting reports have appeared online and in printed newspapers that Christopher Eccleston (The 9th Doctor) agreed to appear in the 50th Anniversary Special, and then pulled out.

The rumours, which were unsurprisingly started by The Daily Star newspaper, claimed Eccleston was all set to star in the special but as filming started, he apparently pulled out.

An official BBC source (speaking to Digital Spy) has reportedly claimed that: "Eccleston was never attached to the 50th and the decision has had no impact on production." The source was further quoted as saying the following:

"Chris met with Steven Moffat a couple of times to talk about Steven's plans for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode. After careful thought, Chris decided not to be in the episode. He wishes the team all the best."

Further rumours claim that Paul McGann has stepped in and the storyline originally intended for The 9th Doctor has simply been swapped for The 8th Doctor.

According to The Independent newspaper, The 9th Doctor may still have an appearance in the special:

"Fans might still get the chance to see Eccleston's portrayal of The Doctor as show bosses are rumoured to be planning to use old footage of previous doctors for the special show."

At this stage we would suggest taking all rumours with a pinch of salt until confirmed by the BBC.

An official BBC source (speaking to Digital Spy) has reportedly claimed that:

Guys, these stories originated from Digital Spy, hardly the most reliable of media. Just because they say 'official BBC source' does not mean it's to be taken as gospel truth. The British media have simply picked up DS's story - all their quotes are from the DS article. Take it all with a pinch of salt.

The BBC has confirmed that Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston, has decided that he will not take part in the 50th Anniversary Episode.

The statement follows reports in the tabloid press that the actor had pulled out of the story just as filming was due to begin. However the BBC makes clear the actor was never contracted for the story which is currently in production.

A BBC spokesman explained

Chris met with Steven Moffat a couple of times to talk about Steven's plans for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode. After careful thought, Chris decided not to be in the episode. He wishes the team all the best.

Christopher Eccleston played the Ninth Doctor when the series returned in 2005, staying with the show for just one season. In 2011 he gave an interview saying he left the series because of politics and because he did not see eye-to-eye with senior members of the production team. He has stated how much he enjoyed the role and fans had hoped he could be persuaded to make an appearance in the 50th Anniversary Special.

An appearance from the Ninth Doctor in the story may still be possible using archive footage from the series.

Filming has continued this week, with Gelligaer Common north of Caerphilly playing host to the TARDIS (times two) yesterday. Jenna-Louise Coleman was present for recording scenes involving her on the Doctor's anti-grav bike, and a helicopter was also present during the morning. You can read a summary of events up in the hills via the She-Goat: blog.

Meanwhile, John Hurt was at the BAFTAs yesterday, with the BBC report saying: "Hurt revealed he had come to the event from filming Doctor Who, for its 50th anniversary, in Cardiff.".

The BBC have confirmed that actress Jemma Redgrave will return to Doctor Who for its 50th Anniversary Special, reprising her role as UNIT's Head of Scientific Research, Kate Stewart.

The announcement comes as filming resumes in London this week, with the crew spotted at The Tower of London this afternoon - the building was last seen in The Power Of Three as the exterior of UNIT Headquarters. Jenna-Louise Coleman was present at the location, along with actress Ingrid Oliver.

Will David Tennant be the only returning Doctor in the 50th anniversary? With Eccleston ruled out, no further announcements and filming well underway, things appear that way at present.

This week Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker and Paul McGann were interviewed on an Australian breakfast show and pointed out the obvious fact that they couldn’t be involved as they are currently in another country doing conventions while the 50th anniversary shoots in the UK.

Further to that McCoy appears very genuine when he says: “All the fan bases all over the world believe that [everyone should be involved], but not the producers at the BBC.”

Still perhaps it’s not all bad. There’s a chance they could film something further down the line. And at least we can watch McCoy and Baker argue over who has really defeated the Daleks…